ART REVIEW: BOHEMIANS ROAM THE RIGHT BANK

By Patricia Boccadoro

PARIS, 22 JANUARY 2013  Bohèmes is the title of a
superb exhibition currently being staged at the Grand Palais in Paris,
just around the corner from the queues stoically waiting, often in
drizzling rain, to visit Edward Hopper.
But unlike the sombre, joyless works of the American artist,
Bohèmes, theatrically presented and crowded with beautiful,
heart-lifting masterpieces from such painters as Van Dongen, Courbet,
Renoir and Georges de la Tour, bursts with life, passion and
romance. From the moment one enters, one is swept into the colourful
world of the Bohemians, the gypsies whose existence in Western Europe
dates back to the 14th century.

Georges de la Tour: La Diseuse de bonne aventure,
1630

"A marvel", stated a town councilor of Arras, a town in Northern France
as far back as 1456, "strangers have arrived in town!" These strangers
turned out to be Egyptians,
from whence the word "gypsy", is derived, and from the beginning, they
have been regarded as the symbol of freedom, their image inspiring both
writers and artists alike. Paintings from the end of the 15th century
showed gypsies in characteristic activities, those of fortune-telling,
dancing, travelling and horse-riding. Then in the mid-19th century the
myth of the Bohemian grew when young painters, poets and musicians no
longer sought the patronage of the rich, but saw themselves as solitary
genius, living in garrets, impoverished, misunderstood, but
intrinsically free. Their ideal was that of liberty and too bad if they
lacked food and comfort. They welcomed poverty.

Liberty is thus the central theme of the exhibition, magnificently
staged by the opera and theatre designer, Robert Carson, and one stands
back to look at and admire the beauty of the canvases shown in a
remarkable setting which succeeds in evoking what cannot be seen. Emotion
is constantly present, not only as one gazes in fascination at the
original, handwritten partition of Mimis death scene from Puccinis
La Bohème, but because one is also surrounded by scenery
resembling an attic while the strains of Puccinis opera can be heard in
the distance. Further on, there is the imposing staircase of the Grand
Palais, dramatically lit and evoking that of the Palais Garnier, where
posters advertising Carmen abound. Puccini gives place to Bizets
immortal score and to the incandescent personality of Carmen herself, a
free spirit with no ties or rules.

Music is very present in this wonderful exhibition covering 400 years
of history, from the impassioned, guttural gypsy songs accompanying the
first part of the show which concentrates on the place of gypsies in art.
A popular theme was illustrated in Georges de la Tours La Diseuse de
bonne aventure, 1630, where a naïve young man, distracted by an old
gypsy telling his fortune, is being robbed of his purse by two others. All
three women have dark complexions excepting for a young girl with a pale
face who is watching. Her light skin illustrates that she is probably of
noble birth, as was Preciosa with her emerald eyes in Cervantes La
gitanilla, the little gypsy. Such stories, of young girls being
abducted by gypsies in their childhood, inspired countless artists.

Frans Hals: The Bohemian, 1628-1630

There is little doubt however, that Frans Hals The Bohemian is
a true gypsy. With her long, loose, hanging hair and mischievous come
hither grin, shes a carefree young woman of easy virtue. She has all the
traditional attributes of sexual freedom, only accentuated by her low
décolleté, an erotic symbol. Corots Zingara, however, gives
another picture of a romantic gypsy girl. Shes beautiful, with a youthful
face full of innocence and melancholy, and she is carrying a tambourine.
Apparently Corot, known more for his exquisite landscapes, painted over a
hundred such portraits in the quiet of his studio, works that he hardly
ever exhibited.

A landscape by Thomas Gainsborough, the first British painter to show
an interest in gypsies, shows the popular theme of travelling gypsies in
idyllic natural settings. They were seen as a wild, nomadic people roaming
freely around the highways of Europe, and Gypsy Encampment
c.1778-80 depicts a gypsy family resting under a tree by a camp-fire. The
vast forest stretching away below them symbolizes their freedom and
wandering ways.

However, one of the more important works which links the theme of the
gypsies in art to the more modern myth, born in the 19th century, of the
life of the bohemians is Gustave Courbets La rencontre ou Bonjour Mr
Courbet. Abandoning his career, Courbet set off on foot, declaring
that he had to be free, and portrayed himself on his travels in search of
a landscape to paint. Throughout his life Courbet remained fascinated with
the theme of the travelling bohemian. Even the stagecoach visible in the
distance echoed his love of the existence of the vagabond. Renoirs La
Bohemienne is a more contrived work. His model is posed in a verdant
setting. Shes wearing the symbolic gypsy earring which is highlighted
against her long dark hair, hanging down over her loosely fitting blouse.
But her striped skirt and bared breasts dont fully convince, for this is
no gypsy, but Lise, Renoirs long-time mistress.

Van Goghs Encampment of Gypsies with Caravan, with the
lop-sided cart, mangy horses, and vividly coloured weather-beaten caravans
is set next to a gypsy tent, hung about with rough covers, a décor
which paves the way to another area where Robert Carson has created
the surroundings and atmosphere of the café restaurants of Montmartre.

Van Gogh: Encampment of Gypsies with
Caravan, 1888

Now the visitor plunged into the world of the brasseries and crowded
music halls of 19th century Paris inhabited by the French poets Verlaine,
Rimbaud and Baudelaire as well as by Toulouse Lautrec, Picasso and Eric
Satie, artists who determined to sweep away tradition.

Carson invites us to sit in the café, one of the inescapable rendezvous
of artists with no home. Edgar Degas masterpiece, Dans un café ou
LAbsinthe hangs here, portraying the actress Ellen André next to the
painter, Marcellin Desboutin, a glass of absinth in front of her, and
probably not the first judging by the state she is in, eyes gazing vapidly
in front of her. The work says everything, from the abuse of alcohol to
life on the margins of respectable society. More uplifting is the
fantastic portrait of a young and beautiful gipsy woman, La Gitane,
(La Curieuse), by the Belgian painter, Kees Van Dongen, for
a time, member of the short-lived Fauvist movement. He had
discovered gipsy women in Spain, and in this painting, the girl is wearing
a saffron yellow dress edged in red, with a black fringed shawl over her
shoulders.

Kees Van Dongen: La Gitane, (La Curieuse),
1911

One leaves this splendid exhibition realizing that
indeed gypsies and bohemians had much In common, being both wanderers and
social misfits, emblematic of the irrepressible freedom that the Nazi
regime tried to stamp out when it targeted both gypsies and modern
artists. Paintings have been adroitly mingled with music, literature and
photography, where visitors go chronologically through time, from works by
Leonardo da Vinci to paintings by Picasso, before stepping physically into
the artists studio, into his attic and into his life. One leaves the
cafes of Montmartre and the Grand Palais as if walking on
air.